Abdominal abscess in Crohn's disease: multidisciplinary management

Crohn's disease (CD) is characterized by full-thickness inflammation of the bowel. For this reason, perforating complications such as intra-abdominal abscesses or fistulas are common. A concomitant intra-abdominal abscess with active CD of the small bowel is a challenging dilemma for gastroenterologists and surgeons. Since there is active and severe disease, this should be treated with immunosuppressive drugs. However, in the presence of an intra-abdominal abscess, immunosuppression can be dangerous. There are several treatment options for intra-abdominal abscesses in CD. Nowadays, the first-line treatment is antibiotic therapy with or without percutaneous drainage. Historically, patients were treated with surgical drainage. With the development of percutaneous drainage, treatment shifted to a more nonsurgical approach. Success rates for percutaneous drainage in the literature vary from 74 to 100%, and it is considered to be a relatively safe procedure. It has been reported that surgery can be avoided after successful percutaneous drainage in a variable number of patients (14-85%). If sepsis is controlled, CD medication should be started to prevent recurrence. It is important to monitor the effect upon CD lesions to avoid further perforating complications. Finally, an undrainable or small abscess can be treated with antibiotics alone, although high recurrence rates have been described with this approach. Patients with a concomitant stenosis, an enterocutaneous fistula or refractory active disease are likely to require surgery. Percutaneous drainage in combination with delayed surgery is useful to improve the patient's condition prior to surgery and is associated with less morbidity, a lower stoma rate and more limited resection. In conclusion, when feasible, percutaneous drainage and antibiotics should be the treatment of choice in patients with an intra-abdominal abscess in CD. If surgery is inevitable, this must be delayed to reduce postoperative septic complications and high stoma rates.